Vietnamese Cult of the Tutelary Spirits (Thành Hoàng) and its Place in the Vietnamese Folk Religion

Gordienko Elena ORCID: 0000-0003-3922-7686 Assistant professor of Center for the Study of Religion, Russian State University of the Humanities 125993, Russia, Moscow, Miusskaya Ploshchad str., 6, building 5, room 1123 Kaktus85@mail.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionThe cult of the patron spirits of the Thanh Hoang locality we are investigating is a cult of spirits revered in villages, village communities and urban neighborhoods of Vietnam as patrons of the locality, protecting from disasters, epidemics, wars, etc. The veneration of the Thanh Hoang is rooted in the traditional culture of the Vietnamese and has been an integral part of the so-called Vietnamese folk religion for centuries (t?n ngng d?n gian Vi?T Nam).

Therefore, we will consider this cult in the context of the Vietnamese religious system and the pantheon of numerous deities and spirits (th?n ?) revered by the Vietnamese. Then we will compare the Thanh Hoang cult with similar cults of neighboring peoples in order to identify the layers associated with the influence of alien religious and philosophical systems - Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, ideologies of the twentieth century, as well as the destructive impact of the anti-religious policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the second half of the twentieth century. This will help us reconstruct the origins and milestones of the development of the Thanh Hoang cult.

The cult of the Thanh Hoangs has not been specifically studied by domestic orientalists before. We have proposed the first systematic description of the cult, its place in the Vietnamese religious system and its origins. This article continues the cycle of our works devoted to various aspects of the Thanh Hoang cult.

Vietnamese folk religion and the pantheon of spiritsThe folk beliefs of the Vietnamese imply the veneration of various spirits – immaterial entities that have agency and actively interact with people.

Since researchers everywhere observe similar cults among neighboring peoples (related and unrelated to the Vietnamese), it can be confidently stated that the veneration of spirits by the Vietnamese is part of an extensive religious phenomenon – animistic beliefs of the Far East and Southeast Asia, belonging to the substratum of the primordial religious practices of the peoples of these regions, at the junction of which Vietnam is located.

With all the diversity of spirits, we note the similarity of cults due to their fundamental basis – the idea of the animateness of the surrounding world. In Vietnam, as in neighboring countries, from birth to death, a person is surrounded by spirits of natural objects and phenomena, animal spirits, spirits of the area, spirits of various mythical characters and people who once lived, including ancestors, with whom a close connection is maintained through rituals and prayer addresses.

The French missionary and explorer Leopold Cadi?re (1869-1955) wrote: "The true religion of the Vietnamese is the cult of spirits. This religion has no history due to the fact that it has existed since the emergence of the ethnos. The religious life of the Annamites of all classes of society is based on a deeply rooted belief in the consciousness that spirits dwell everywhere. <...> And these spirits, scattered everywhere, are not inactive. They interfere in a person's life and influence his fate" ^{[13, p.6]}.As our field research shows, the Vietnamese themselves assess the veneration of spirits as an authentic religious practice that has existed since ancient times and has persisted for centuries (while the question of the transformation of rituals and the pantheon remains outside the scope of this discourse).

Pantheon and rituals of the Vietnamese folk religion

The number of spirits revered in Vietnam is estimated in the hundreds.

These are immaterial entities with different statuses in the general hierarchy of the other world. Some of the deities are ubiquitous, others are worshipped locally. Spirits have various functions and purposes. At the same time, each category of spirits has clearly defined characteristics, so this whole host of otherworldly entities is quite classifiable.

The hierarchical classification of Vietnamese spirits and deities will be built by us on the basis of the religious and mythological representations of the Vietnamese, reflected in the written monuments of the past that have come down to our time [1-4, 7]. It should be noted that these works were written by representatives of the Vietnamese elite mainly in classical Chinese and under the influence of Chinese literary genres. These literary texts often acted as a structuring element of religious practices (especially in the North Vietnamese provinces), and the hierarchy of spirits was built up as a result of centuries-old interaction, on the one hand, local folk (vernacular) practices and, on the other hand, the state ideology and politics of the court ^[6].

So, as set out in the written monuments to the beliefs of the Vietnamese, the Sky is inhabited by gods, among which are the deities of the highest order, borrowed from China – Jade Emperor (Ng?c ), Buddha (? Ph?t), the bodhisattva Kuan Yin (Quan ?m ), the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu ( L?o T?, or L?o Qu?n ). Also among the celestials, native Vietnamese deities are revered: the spirit of Thanh Ziaung (Th?nh Gi?ng ), the goddess Li?U Han (Li?U H?nh ) and other spirits who sometimes act as thanh hoangs in certain villages of provinces associated with their earthly incarnation ^{[2, 11, 15]}. At the same time, the Sky remains the permanent place of residence of all these deities. At the same time, according to our observations, the supreme deities of Chinese origin rarely patronize the area, although they may be mentioned in the biography of the spirit of the area ^[30].

The spirits of the dead, including the spirits of deceased ancestors, the spirits of mythical characters, some spirits of nature (for example, large trees and stones) and various harmful spirits, including hungry spirits of the properly unburied deceased, live directly among people [2-3, 12-13]. Here, in constant interaction with people, are the Thanh hoangs we are considering – "a transitional category between the souls of the deceased and the higher deities" ^{[9, pp.87-88]}. Performing rituals and making offerings to the Thanh Hoang, the Vietnamese count on their assistance in harvesting and saving the area from various disasters – floods, epidemics, wars. Spirits "demand" not only offerings, but also respect for themselves. And even good spirits can be vindictive – this is how their power and power over people is manifested. In order to protect themselves from the harmful effects of spirits and to enlist their support, people need to make regular offerings (bring incense, flowers, ritual food, alcohol in special dishes to the altar).

The Thanh Hoang patronize not just a piece of land, but a populated area – a village (l?ng, x?m, th?n ?) or a village community (association of villages, x? ?), as well as a city block (phng ?). Thanh Hoang is regarded as the patron saint of the locality, which is extremely necessary for the "formed group of people" (fr. un groupement humain form?), in the words of the researcher of colonial times Nguyen Van Khoan ^{[23, p.118]}. His French predecessor Paul Girand, assessing the connection of the cult with the communal consciousness, wrote that thanh hoang is the "collective soul" of the village community (fr. ?me collective) ^{[17, p.333]}.

Rituals for all spirits are usually performed in front of the altar (b?n th?). They are performed by the most authoritative representatives of the group of people whom the spirits patronize: senior members of a family or clan, residents of the older generation of a village, a village community, a city block, or representatives of the central government when honoring national spirits.

The most important ritualsThe most important aspect of the Vietnamese cult of spirits is the veneration of the ancestors of the family.

In addition to daily rituals in honor of three generations of deceased ancestors on the home altar, the Vietnamese hold ceremonies of addressing the ancestors on special occasions, including the rites of the life cycle. An important place in family rituals is the veneration of the spirit of the hearth (?Ng T?o, tj. T?o Qu?n ) ^[20].Outstanding ancestors who lived more than three generations ago, due to their higher status and numerous descendants, become the object of veneration of the family branch or the whole family, therefore rituals in honor of their spirits are often performed in special family temples (n), built and maintained at the expense of descendants.

In addition to the home altar, the altars of the patron spirits of crafts and professions, installed in workshops, shops, cafes, enterprises, etc., are the place of performing everyday rituals. Such a spirit can be not only the mythical patron of a particular craft or an abstract spirit of wealth, but also the deceased founder of an enterprise. If the whole village community is engaged in some kind of craft, then the altar of such a spirit is installed in the communal house, and the spirit can be revered as the patron saint of the thanh hoang area.

Thanh Hoang worship is the most widespread religious practice in Vietnam in terms of the number of participants. As our field research shows, the rituals in front of the altars are conducted by the most respectable older men of a particular area, and all residents of the area, sometimes pilgrims from other villages, participate in the celebrations after the rituals. Appealing to the spirit for protection involves, in addition to offerings, beating drums and gongs, appeals to the spirit and then reading a prayer text. Sometimes dances are performed in front of the communal house or temple where the thanh hoang altar is located. Holidays are held on dates according to the lunar calendar associated with the biography of Thanh hoang. Small offerings are also regularly performed on full moons and new moons.At the state level, first of all, the spirits of the mythical rulers of antiquity, declared the progenitors and patrons of the whole of Vietnam, the kings of the Hung (H?ng VNg ), are revered.

The ceremony of veneration (gi? t? H?ng VNg) is held by the first persons of the state in a special temple near Hanoi with the participation of pilgrims, and the day of the holiday has been declared a non-working holiday in Vietnam since 2007 (the 10th day of the third lunar month, in April according to the Gregorian calendar).

We should also note religious practices that have remained marginal for centuries and were opposed to cults supported by the state – mediumistic, or mediumistic sessions (l?n ng). Sessions involve the medium being possessed by a spirit into a trance state. They can be correlated with spiritualism and shamanism. The object of the sessions can be a variety of spirits, including thanh hoangs, but most often they are female spirits, in particular the goddess Lieu Han, already mentioned by us. The popularity of worshipping mother goddesses is often explained by the primordial high status of female deities in the Vietnamese pantheon, however, apparently, the cult became widespread only in the XVI-XIX centuries. in contrast to the pantheon of Thanh Hoangs approved by the court and ceremonies in honor of them conducted exclusively by men ^[11]. The isolation of practices related to the obsession with female spirits and their veneration allowed modern Vietnamese religious scholars (primarily Ngo Duc Thinyu) to distinguish them into the "religion of mother goddesses" (O M?u ? ?) ^[21]. The comprehension of once marginal practices as a religion took place against the background of their recognition by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage (along with the veneration of the Hung kings) ^[8]. All this raised the status of mediumistic practices, caused their reinterpretation as native Vietnamese and led to their widespread spread in modern Vietnam, especially in the south of the country ^[27-28].Spirits of the area from neighboring peoples

As mentioned above, the worship of the spirits of the area is ubiquitous in Southeast Asia, so the cult of the Thanh Hoangs can be considered in a fairly broad context.

We set ourselves the task of describing this whole context. Here are just a few examples. First of all, we will characterize the cults of peoples who have not been influenced by the religious and philosophical influence of India, China and Europe.

Spirits of the area among the DyaksLet us consider the cult of the spirits of the area among the Dayaks inhabiting the island of Kalimantan (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei), who remain followers of animistic cults to the present time.

The Dayaks consider the spirits of recently deceased villagers to be the patrons of the area, inhabiting specially made wooden statues (hampatong). At the same time, the Vietnamese do not revere as patrons all deceased relatives and not even all deceased noble representatives of the village, but individual outstanding personalities – its founder or a person who has services to its inhabitants, and sometimes even a mythical character.

The Dyaks place the statue in the border space – at the entrance to the dwelling and along the paths leading to it – to protect against evil spirits, including the spirits of diseases. At the same time, the altar of the Vietnamese Thanh hoang is located in the very center of the village community, usually in the meeting house of its residents (in a communal house, less often in a separate temple).

In the images of the spirits of the Dayak area, we see the expression of naive art, unusual for Vietnamese Thanh Hoang statues, in the aggressive expressions of the faces of deceased ancestors, scaring away evil spirits. At the same time, emotion vested in China and Vietnam, the images of the spirits of the guardian of doors of houses and temples (M?n Th?n ), as well as deities, the guards of the four cardinal points (T? i Thi?n Vng ), which appears to be associated with their function of protection of frontier areas. Also on the Vietnamese material, we see that the Chinese canon allows expression in relation to minor deities, whereas the statues of the spirits of the state pantheon are characterized by external benevolence, although the spirits are vindictive for disrespect for themselves ^{[19, p.93]}. (Buddhist statues postulate pacification at all.)Javanese cult of spirits of the area

Let's turn to the Javanese cult of spirits of the area in Indonesia.

It is interesting for us because the Javanese profess Sunni Islam, which prohibits the worship of spirits and their image. By referring the cult of spirits to haram (sinful acts), Islam removed the folk practices of worshipping spirits from the public sphere, without regulating them and, thus, without affecting their conduct. Perhaps only the ban on the image of faces affected the veneration of spirits: spirits exist metaphysically and do not require material embodiment in the form of a statue. The presence of spirits is demonstrated during trance and possession sessions ^[25-26]. An important feature of the bright costumed celebrations in honor of Javanese spirits is the demonstration of physical invulnerability.Practices of this kind are unacceptable when honoring Thanh Hoangs in Vietnam (as mentioned above, trance and spirit possession were considered marginal practices until the end of the twentieth century.). Perhaps the absence of trance sessions is the result of the policy of unification of cults and regulation of rituals, which was carried out by the Vietnamese dynasty of the Late Le (1428-1788) under the influence of Chinese ideology, primarily "imperial" religion and neo-Confucianism ^[10].

The essence of the ritual of addressing the Thanh hoangs is that as a result of prayer proclamations to the beat of gongs and drums, the spirit comes to the altar to receive offerings and listen to the appeals of the villagers. If the spirit is satisfied with the offerings, then it will patronize the area, and in the absence of offerings or respectful attitude, it will begin to harm. We cannot rule out that trance and obsession were present in Vietnamese ceremonies and were ousted when the altars of spirits were moved to the communal house (by decree of the Court, in the XV century). If this is the case, then neo-Confucianism reformatted the cult, refining it for inclusion in the state religion (while Islam in Java, prohibiting local cults, did not interfere with them).

The cult of Neak-ta among the KhmerThe comparison of the Thanh Hoangs with the Khmer spirits of the Neak-ta area is of interest to us primarily because in Cambodia this cult exists within the framework of Buddhism.

Until the XV century, Buddhism was the dominant religion of the Vietnamese (with the advent of neo-Confucianism, Buddhism lost this status forever). In addition, the Khmer and Vietnamese are related peoples, so a comparison of cults will allow us to more confidently judge the situation of Vietnamese spirits of the area in the XI–XIV centuries, when Buddhism was the state religion of Daiviet.

So, in Cambodia, the spirits of the first ancestors and founders of the village, as well as mythical creatures and non-anthropomorphic spirits act as non-actors. The altar of neak-ta is installed on the border of the settlement, which is associated with the protective function of these spirits. For the construction of a house with an altar, a "protruding" natural object is chosen - a tree, a small hill, a stone, a termite mound or an artificial embankment, in which a spirit is expected to settle, becoming an alien. At the same time, it can be depicted in the form of a small statue, a stone, but often does not have an image on the altar. Each neak-ta has a permanent medium from among the villagers, who becomes his material embodiment and acts as an intermediary in communicating with the locals. Offerings usually include flowers, incense, fruits, cooked food, alcohol and sweets, which makes the cult of neak-ta related to the cult of Thanh Hoang ^{[14, 16]}.From the point of view of Buddhism, the worship of local spirits is not an object of prohibitions (as in Islam), but also does not promote a person in practices, is not a merit and does not contribute to achieving liberation from suffering.

At the same time, spirits are included in the pantheon as secondary deities, and Buddhist monks often participate in ceremonies in honor of the neak, reciting prayer texts and good wishes (paritta). Apparently, before the XV century in Vietnam, mediumistic sessions and Buddhist prayers also accompanied ceremonies in honor of the spirits of the area. Probably, with the relocation of the Thanh Hoangs to the communal house, to the center of village life, the cult was cleared of unnecessary components from the point of view of neo-Confucianism ^{[19, p.98]}.The cult of the spirits of the area near the Myongs (Vietnam)

The Myongs are the closest people to the Vietnamese, inhabiting the foothills to the west and south of Hanoi (while the Vietnamese live in river valleys, primarily in the valley of the Krasnaya River).

In terms of language and material culture, the Myongs are close to the Vietnamese, since these peoples separated quite late (only in the X–XI centuries). At the same time, the Myongs were significantly less influenced by Chinese civilization, their language remained unwritten, and epic tales were passed down from generation to generation orally ^[5].

Researchers of the colonial period mention the veneration of the spirits of the area by myongs (French Indochina existed in 1887-1945). Thus, Pierre Grossan in 1922 writes that the whole life of Myong is "surrounded" by spirits. The patron spirits of the area (genies tut?laires), who are considered more powerful than other spirits, are revered everywhere. Ceremonies in their honor are held three times a year (on the tenth day of the first, third and tenth lunar months). It is the spirits of the area that ensure peace, health, and well-being in the area where the Myongs live. Ceremonies are held in the communal house by the head of the village with the participation of all its residents. Chicken and glutinous rice are used as offerings, and after the ceremony a feast is held for the whole village ^[18].

Grossan's observations indicate the similarity of the cult of the Vietnamese and the cult of the Myongs. Modern ceremonies are conducted using the same equipment as Vietnamese ceremonies. The most important difference in the veneration of the spirits of the area by the myongs lies in the pantheon of spirits: along with the spirits of the ancestors, the spirit of the stone, the spirit that defeats bats, the decapitated ruler, the healer, brothers who possessed supernatural abilities are revered as patrons of the area. In addition, temples and community houses are often smaller and may be symbolic in nature. So, the temple can be built of bamboo, while the Vietnamese build capital structures for Thanh Hoang worship.Results: Reconstruction of the early history of the Vietnamese cult of spirits of the area

The ethnographic material described above allows us to reconstruct in general terms the original forms of the cult of the patron spirits of the area in Vietnam.

Our conclusions will be hypothetical, but at the same time they allow us to describe the Thanh Hoang cult as a dynamic phenomenon (in contrast to the popular idea of the cult as an immutable tradition inherited from the ancestors).

So, following L. Kader, we will regard the veneration of the spirits of the area as the oldest religious practice of the Vietnamese. It is connected with the cult of the spirits of deceased ancestors and is rooted in the conviction of the villagers in constant interaction with them. Only later (perhaps under the influence of similar Chinese cults) did the pantheon expand due to the spirits of people who are not related by blood to the village, but who have merits to its inhabitants ^[24]. In addition, totems and various zoomorphic spirits became objects of worship. Vietnamese researchers describe the cult of the spirits of snakes and scolopendras, the spirits of deceased children, the spirits of lust, the spirits of the sale of pigs, which have long been preserved in communal homes ^[22-23].

Apparently, the spirits possessed altars and could have some material embodiment in the form of a statue, stone or mound. Most likely, the spirits of the area performed the function of protecting the border spaces from evil spirits (along with protecting the village as a whole), so they could be portrayed as aggressive and installed on the edge of the village. They most likely retained this role during the centuries of the dominance of Buddhism (X–XIV centuries). It was only in the XV century that the altars of the spirits of the area moved to the center of village life – to the communal house. It should be noted that only the patrons of the village began to be revered in it. The hitherto revered spirits of the earth and nature spirits (they live both in villages and outside them) did not enter the communal house into the concept of "thanh hoang" ^[29]. For example, to bury the deceased, the Vietnamese apply for permission to the spirit of the earth in the cemetery ^[19].

Large village-wide holidays in honor of the main spirit of the village are held several times a year until now. In addition to rituals in front of altars, prayer appeals to spirits, offerings of fruits, flowers, incense, food and alcohol, they include folk festivals that can be characterized as a manifestation of carnival culture. Prior to the XV century. rituals in honor of the spirits of the area, apparently, implied the participation of mediums and probably included a demonstration of trance and possession of spirits.